This invention relates to methods, apparatus and systems in which items are provided in response to requests for such items, and in which it is desired to ensure that an item is provided in response to each request for such item. The invention has particular application to the dispensing of beverages such as in a bar or night club, for example.
Many systems exist in which requests for an item are received and items are provided in response to such requests. An example of such a system is that used to provide customers with beverages in a bar or night club. In some bars, waitresses, waiters and/or customers make requests for drinks by speaking to a bartender. A record of the request for a drink is simultaneously or shortly thereafter entered into a point of sale system such as a cash register. The bartender then responds by making the drink and providing it to the customer or to the waiter or waitress for transport to the customer.
As a bar gets busy, there may be a plurality of waitresses and/or customers all speaking to the bartender at the same time or in rapid succession, and the bartender may not be able to keep up with such requests or may forget some of the requests. Conversely, the bartender, waiters or waitresses may forget to enter into the cash register a request for a particular drink provided by the bartender. Dishonest practices of bartenders or waitresses may also result in failure to enter a request for a drink into the cash register. Consequently, requests for drinks or items may not be matched with provisions of the drinks or items, resulting in over or under charging customers and too few or too many drinks being provided. This can result in loss of revenue to a bar owner, both directly in the case of failure to enter a request, and indirectly where a customer becomes dissatisfied because of a failure to promptly provide a drink for which the customer has been billed.
In the past, a number of systems have been proposed to monitor the dispensing of beverages.
One such system involves a dispensing pump and a control console for controlling the pump. Information on drinks made and served is automatically downloaded to a Point-of-Sales (POS) system or a cash register. However, this system requires the substitution of a positive displacement pump for conventional dispensing systems, and requires a separate pump for each drink to be monitored, disadvantageously resulting in additional expenses. Also, by automatically downloading information on the dispensed drinks to a cash register, this system fails to address the problem that the same volume of the same liquor may have several different prices, depending on whether it is served by itself, in a larger size, or in a mixed drink. Furthermore, this system removes a bartender""s discretion to generate legitimate variances between dispensed amounts and billed amounts, for example, to replace drinks spilled by bartending staff, to provide xe2x80x9ctasterxe2x80x9d samples, or to provide complimentary drinks to regular customers.
Another such system employs a plurality of assemblies to determine weights of bottles placed thereon, and a unique element placed on each bottle to identify the particular bottle. Each assembly includes a transducer for producing an output signal indicative of the weight of a bottle placed on the assembly, and a sensor for producing an output signal indicative of the identifying unique element on the bottle. A computer receives both of these output signals, and computes the weight of each bottle. When a bottle is removed from one of the assemblies to pour a beverage, and then replaced onto one of the assemblies, the computer is able to compute the change in weight of the bottle, and thus the volume dispensed. However, this system would require large capital expenditures, since a separate weighing assembly would be required for every bottle or container in use in the bar. This system also carries a significant time cost, since staff members must painstakingly attach an identifying unique element to every bottle or container in the bar.
In a third system, if a staff member attempts to dispense a drink without first identifying himself by entering an authorization code, an automatic valve will close, preventing further dispensation. In a fourth similar system, a staff member is issued a credit card with a fixed credit. The staff member must insert the credit card in a dispensing device before dispensing each beverage. When the fixed credit is used, the server must return the card to a cashier and pay the cashier the cash equivalent of the used credit. In addition to the aforementioned difficulty of removing the server""s discretion to generate legitimate variances, these systems increase the amount of time required to dispense each beverage, and are therefore unsuitable for busy, large-capacity establishments.
Thus, there is a need for a relatively inexpensive and unobtrusive dispensing system which calculates variances between provided and requested amounts of an item, and which signals an operator when a requested item has not been provided. Such a system may be used to remind bartenders to dispense billed drinks and to bill dispensed drinks.
The present invention addresses the above need by providing an apparatus operable to receive request indications for an item and indications that the item has been provided, and by signalling an operator, such as a bartender, when a request indication has no corresponding provided indication. By means of the above apparatus, requests for items are matched with corresponding provisions of such items and the operator is notified when a request indication has no corresponding provided indication. The invention may be extended to further notify the operator when a provided indication has no corresponding request indication.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method and apparatus for receiving a request indication representing a request for an item, receiving a provided indication representing providing the item, and signalling an operator when the request indication has no corresponding provided indication. The apparatus includes a request indication receiver, a provided indication receiver, a processing circuit and a signal device in communication with the processing circuit for carrying out the method.
Preferably, the signal device signals the operator when the provided indication has no corresponding request indication.
The apparatus may include a storage device and the method may include receiving and storing a plurality of request indications and a plurality of provided indications. The processing circuit may cooperate with the signal device to carry out the method by signalling the operator when a newly received request indication has no corresponding stored provided indication, or when a newly received provided indication has no corresponding stored request indication.
Receiving the request indication may include receiving a representation of a requested amount of the item, and receiving the provided indication may include receiving a representation of a provided amount of the item. The request indication receiver and provided indication receiver are operable to carry out these steps.
Preferably, the method includes, when a new requested amount representation is received, cancelling a previous provided amount while reducing the new requested amount by the cancelled provided amount and adding any non-cancelled new requested amount to a previous requested amount. Similarly, the method preferably includes, when a new provided amount representation is received, cancelling the previous requested amount while reducing the new provided amount by the cancelled requested amount and adding any non-cancelled new provided amount to the previous provided amount. The processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to perform these steps. The method may further include signalling an operator when the non-cancelled new requested amount or the non-cancelled new provided amount is not equal to zero. The processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to actuate the signal device to achieve such signalling.
Optionally, the method includes associating the previous requested amounts and the previous provided amounts with respective time periods. In this case, the processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to store a plurality of the representations associated with respective time periods.
Preferably, cancelling the previous provided amount includes cancelling the previous provided amounts associated with successively later time periods while reducing the new requested amount by each cancelled previous provided amount and adding any non-cancelled new requested amount to the previous requested amount associated with a latest time period. Similarly, cancelling the previous requested amount preferably includes cancelling the previous requested amounts associated with successively later time periods while reducing the new provided amount by each cancelled previous requested amount and adding any non-cancelled new provided amount to the previous provided amount associated with a latest time period. The processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to achieve such cancelling.
Optionally, the method includes receiving the new requested amount from a point of sale system, and if so, the request indication receiver is operable to receive the representation of the new requested amount from the point of sale system.
The method may include receiving the new provided amount from a fluid dispensing system, which may include a liquor dispensing system. In such a case, the provided indication receiver is operable to receive the representation of the new requested amount from the fluid dispensing system or liquor dispensing system.
The method preferably includes storing the representations, which is achieved by cooperation of the processing circuit and storage device.
Ideally, the method further includes maintaining a provided total of each of the cancelled previous provided amounts and previous provided amounts which have not been cancelled within a pre-defined period of time, and maintaining a requested total of each of the cancelled previous requested amounts and previous requested amounts which have not been cancelled within the pre-defined period of time. Again, the processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to perform these steps.
The method preferably includes calculating a difference between the provided total and the requested total, and displaying the difference. The processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to calculate the difference, and the signal device includes a display in communication with the processing circuit for displaying the difference. The signal device may also include a printer in communication with the processing circuit such that the processing circuit directs the printer to print an indication of the difference.
Optionally, the method includes calculating a sum of non-cancelled previous requested amounts and displaying the sum of the non-cancelled previous requested amounts. Similarly, the method may include calculating a sum of non-cancelled previous provided amounts and displaying the sum of the non-cancelled previous provided amounts. Once again, the processing circuit cooperates with the storage device to calculate these sums, and the signal device includes a display in communication with the processing circuit for displaying these sums.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method and apparatus for receiving information indicating at least one of a new requested amount of at least one of a plurality of items and a new provided amount of at least one of the plurality of items.
The method may include, when information relating to the new requested amount is received, determining which of the items the new requested amount relates to, and for the item, cancelling a previous provided amount while reducing the new requested amount by the cancelled provided amount and adding any non-cancelled new requested amount to a previous requested amount.
Similarly, the method preferably includes, when information relating to the new provided amount is received, determining which of the items the new provided amount relates to and for the item cancelling the previous requested amount while reducing the new provided amount by the cancelled requested amount and adding any non-cancelled new provided amount to the previous provided amount.
The method may further include signalling an operator when the non-cancelled new requested amount or the non-cancelled new provided amount is not equal to zero.
The method preferably includes, for each item, associating the previous requested amounts and the previous provided amounts with respective time periods.
Optionally, cancelling the previous provided amount includes cancelling the previous provided amounts associated with successively later time periods while reducing the new requested amount by each cancelled previous provided amount and adding any non-cancelled new requested amount to the previous requested amount associated with a latest time period.
Similarly, cancelling the previous requested amount optionally includes cancelling the previous requested amounts associated with successively later time periods while reducing the new provided amount by each cancelled previous requested amount and adding any non-cancelled new provided amount to the previous provided amount associated with a latest time period.
Optionally, receiving the new provided amount includes receiving the new provided amount from a fluid dispensing system, and receiving the new provided amount includes receiving the new provided amount from a liquor dispensing system.
Preferably, the method further includes storing, for each item of the plurality of items, a representation of at least one of the previous requested amount and the previous provided amount. The method may further include, for each item of the plurality of items, maintaining a provided total of each of the cancelled previous provided amounts and previous provided amounts which have not been cancelled within a pre-defined period of time, and a requested total of each of the cancelled previous requested amounts and previous requested amounts which have not been cancelled within the pre-defined period of time.
The method ideally includes, for each item of the plurality of items, calculating a difference between the provided total and the requested total, and displaying the difference, for at least one of the plurality of items. The method preferably includes, for each item of the plurality of items, calculating a sum of non-cancelled previous requested amounts and displaying the sum of the non-cancelled previous requested amounts, for at least one of the plurality of items. Likewise, the method preferably includes, for each item of the plurality of items, calculating a sum of non-cancelled previous provided amounts and displaying the sum of the non-cancelled previous provided amounts, for at least one of the plurality of items.
The apparatus may further include means for carrying out the functionality of the various method steps above.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system including the apparatus above and further comprising a point of sale terminal in communication with the request indication receiver for providing the representations of the new requested amounts of the item. The system preferably includes a fluid dispensing system in communication with the provided indication receiver for providing the representations of the new provided amounts of the item. The fluid dispensing system may include a liquor dispensing system or a beer dispensing system. Optionally, the system includes a printer in communication with the apparatus for printing information stored in the storage device.
When employed in a bar or nightclub, with the plurality of items comprising beer and various liquors, the current invention receives information pertaining to all drinks sold from a Point-of-Sale (POS) system, and receives information pertaining to all drinks dispensed from, for example, one or more liquor guns and one or more draft beer dispensers. A top portion of a display reminds a bartender of any recent variances, i.e., recently-billed or requested drinks which have not yet been dispensed or provided, and recently-dispensed or provided drinks which have not yet been billed or requested. xe2x80x9cRecentlyxe2x80x9d can be any user-selected period of time, for example, the last ten minutes. A bottom portion of the display informs the bartender of any such accumulated variances over the course of the evening, excluding the xe2x80x9crecentxe2x80x9d variances displayed at the top of the display. When, with the passage of time, a recent variance xe2x80x9ctimes outxe2x80x9d or ceases to be recent and becomes an accumulated variance, a reminder slip may also be printed. Thus, information pertaining to variances between requested (billed) amounts and provided (dispensed) amounts is provided to the bartender in real time, enabling him to quickly correct any discrepancies while they are fresh in his mind, rather than trying to recall, at the end of a long evening, how a specific variance arose. Advantageously, if a busy bartender has forgotten to pour a drink for which a customer has been billed, the bartender will be automatically reminded to do so, before the customer becomes impatient or dissatisfied. Conversely, if the bartender has forgotten to bill a customer for a poured drink, he will be promptly reminded to do so. If reminder slips are printed, the bartender may retain such slips and may choose to make a quick notation to indicate xe2x80x9clegitimatexe2x80x9d variances, for example, to provide replacements for spilled drinks, xe2x80x9ctastersxe2x80x9d, or complimentary drinks to preferred customers.
It will be appreciated that the current invention may be easily adapted for use in conventional dispensing systems. A Hall effect or similar metering device may be inserted at any convenient location along tubing or piping used to carry the beer or other dispensate from a keg or container to a dispensing device. A liquor dispensing card in accordance with the invention may be used with a conventionally-styled liquor dispensing gun, preferably incorporating alternating polarity switching components to prevent electrolysis and corrosion. Advantageously, therefore, bartenders or other staff will require only minimal instruction as to the use of the current invention, and will be able to dispense drinks in essentially the manner to which they have been accustomed. In a larger establishment, the system may include a plurality of beer dispensers and liquor dispensers in communication with the apparatus. Service in high-volume, large-capacity nightclubs need not be hampered by a need to enter payment or enter an authorization code or credit card prior to dispensing each drink.